Witch of the Dark Gate

Gavin Black #2

by John Jakes, Frank Frazetta (Illustrator)

Sequel to 'Master of the Dark Gate' about a great civilization that flourished on Earth 100,000 years ago then before the Ice Age fled thru dimensions into alternate Earths & now wish to reclaim their long-abandoned territory.
Gavin Black stands as Earth’s only defender against the Masters of the Klekton!

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

John William Jakes, the author of more than a dozen novels, is regarded as one of today’s most distinguished writers of historical fiction. His work includes the highly acclaimed Kent Family Chronicles series and the North and South Trilogy. Jakes’s commitment to historical accuracy and evocative storytelling earned him the title of “the godfather of historical novelists” from the Los Angeles Times and led to a streak of sixteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers. Jakes has received several awards for his work and is a member of the Authors Guild and the PEN American Center. He and his wife, Rachel, live on the west coast of Florida.

Also writes under pseudonyms Jay Scotland, Alan Payne, Rachel Ann Payne, Robert Hart Davis, Darius John Granger, John Lee Gray. Has ghost written as William Ard.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Franzetta cover deceives, of course. This book is mostly _not_ about a naked woman wrapped in snake gesturing at a giant in a swamp. It does have it inside, however, and if you listen carefully you can hear the author hammering away at the natural course of the story until the cover art can be justified.

It has that feel to it: Jakes is churning out story at a high pace in his "Brak the Barbarian" style and never went back to deal with the rough edges. He--Gavin Black, in narration--takes about thirty pages to shovel backstory and recap the previous book and then get it going in some kind of direction. During this part, as Gavin loses his writing contract due to alcohol and deals with depressing personal problems, the reader can only flip between this and the cover, trying to see how the two things could possibly connect.

The result lacks a skeleton and is little more than Gavin et al being thrown into situation after situation until returning to the depressing status quo. It almost achieved something by the climax, as he and his cohorts fabricate a second Witch of the South using an ill-trained adept, in order to break a city invasion and get close to the villain of the piece. And then get embroiled again in the dysfunctional city politics as a poor substitute for a god-king.

But then the story slams shut, with an unsatisfying ending that implied but never delivered a trilogy.

[Michael Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reluctant four stars. This is the second Gavin Black book (1972), the first being Master of the Dark Gate (1970). There was meant to be a third book with the second going on about the imminent invasion of Earth. That is "our Earth". There are six other "parallel worlds" from where the invading forces would come.
The book is vaguely sword and sorcerer but Black is no Conan and the sorcerers (good and bad) use mind powers to attack others and to open gates between the Earths. Gavin Black allies himself with a treacherous mental wizard to try and find his lover, stranded on another Earth but things go badly for him. In the end he manages to fight his way back to our Earth but with no real plans on what to do next, and now we will never know.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was... underwhelmed with this one. The plot was mildly cohesive, but the ending felt a bit too convenient. Maybe it was because this is book two of a duopoly that I'd never heard of, so I don't want to be unfair, but it doesn't stand up next to some of the other classic and recent science fiction I've been reading of late. Bits and pieces were conceptually interesting, but it felt more like the story was happening to the characters than around and about them.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great cover on my "Magnum Science Fiction Original," but it doesn't have anything to do with the story, which is more SF than fantasy. Not a bad read but somewhat slight on story.